The Bible contains two notable instances of resurrection, or raising from the dead, so differing in their every aspect as to be worthy of comment.
In John 11 is recorded Jesus' work in raising Lazarus from the tomb. Lazarus' body had been buried and had lain in the tomb for four days. When he came forth in response to the Master's imperative command, the graveclothes in which human thought had wrapped a mortal body were still around him, and the napkin was over his face. Jesus had wept over the doubt and disbelief of those about him, for even the faithful Mary, more spiritually-minded than the others, failed to realize the ever-presence of the Christ when she said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."
Lazarus, who believed he must die, and his friends and family who believed that he had died, were not prepared for the complete demonstration and proof that the real Life of man is God. And so, in order to rouse the thought of those who had witnessed Lazarus' death and restoration, Jesus said (John 11: 44), "Loose him, and let him go."
Far different was the resurrection of the Master himself from the belief of death. Three days had his mortal body, seemingly killed by human hatred, lain in the tomb. Three days had the great stone blocked the entrance, for thus did mortal mind think that it could stop the Master's work and close the door to Spirit. Yet, when Jesus was ready to come forth, the great stone was rolled away without human effort, and he showed his disciples that his body was the same as before the crucifixion. The flesh wounds conclusively proved to the doubting ones that it was their Teacher who again stood before them. Inside the tomb, two angels had reassured the faithful women who came seeking to anoint Jesus' body with sweet spices, that he had risen. Jesus had come forth with no napkin or winding sheet about him. These impeding garments of death had been laid aside.
Lazarus came forth from the tomb with the wrappings of death still clinging to him. Jesus came forth the victor over death, and was soon ready to prove, in his ascension, the unreality of all materiality, and was to rise still higher in the full effulgence and glory of Life eternal.
On page 292 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy says: "Truth will be to us 'the resurrection and the life' only as it destroys all error and the belief that Mind, the only immortality of man, can be fettered by the body, and Life be controlled by death;" and she continues on that and the following page, "In his resurrection and ascension, Jesus showed that a mortal man is not the real essence of manhood, and that this unreal material mortality disappears in presence of the reality."
Peter was one of those at the tomb after Jesus had risen. But a few short days before, he had denied, not once but thrice, knowing or being with Jesus. I like to think of Peter as having undergone a great purification or resurrection of thought in those days of travail between his denial of Jesus and his visit to the sepulcher. Was not the mental stone of doubt rolled away from his consciousness, as was the physical stone from the cave's mouth? Surely Peter, chastened and repentant, saw beyond the illusion of death to the reality of Life, God, as demonstrated by Jesus. Regenerated and resurrected, in his later healing and teaching work he walked the way with Christ.
The revelation of truth which came to this disciple can come to you and me today. Perhaps you and I, like Peter, have at times denied the Christ; we may not have used our understanding of Christian Science as we should, nor placed first things first. Yet, the way to Emmaus is always open, and we need never walk it alone, for the loving Christ will walk with us, however long the way may seem. Though you and I may be tempted to deny the Christ, our loving Father will never deny His children who come to Him in humility and right desire. In the parable of the prodigal, the father's promise to the elder son is the Father's promise to us (Luke 15:31): "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine."
What, then, is the resurrection all must at some time experience before attaining the true status of perfection? Mrs. Eddy defines it thus (Science and Health, p. 593): "Resurrection. Spiritualization of thought; a new and higher idea of immortality, or spiritual existence; material belief yielding to spiritual understanding." Note that in each of these definitions the spiritual is emphasized. To reach this high goal one must turn from belief in a mortal mind apart from God to the realization of the one Mind, God, and know that all true thoughts and ideas emanate from this Mind. Material belief in sickness, sin, and death must yield to the spiritual understanding of God as the only Life, and the acknowledgment that the beauty, love, and infinitude of good belong to us all in our true status as God's ideas, ever complete and perfect.
Mrs. Eddy has set no unattainable goal before her followers, for in her teachings she has shown how this goal may be reached. But can we attain to this true state of resurrection if we cling to the graveclothes and the winding sheet, if we believe that the way leads through the experience called death?
On page 88 of "Retrospection and Introspection" we find this message from our beloved Leader: "The spiritual significance of this command, 'Raise the dead,' most concerns mankind. It implies such an elevation of the understanding as will enable thought to apprehend the living beauty of Love, its practicality, its divine energies, its health-giving and life-bestowing qualities,—yea, its power to demonstrate immortality." It is the risen Christ that illumines, heals, and saves. It is the risen Christ, manifested through love in the regenerated consciousness of every faithful follower, that reveals the light which must ultimately raise the thoughts of all mankind above the experience of the grave into eternal Life. Yes, Jesus had risen. Divested of the winding sheet, he was clothed with the glory of Life eternal, unharmed by the flame of hatred's consuming fire, and untouched by the gloom of the grave. Jesus' human sense had yielded to the divine, and the risen Christ was manifested.
Since starting to write this article I have experienced a very wonderful healing. A problem of long standing had persisted despite consecrated work in Christian Science for its eradication. Suddenly the thought came to me, You, like Peter, have denied the Christ. You have not rightly used your understanding of Christian Science. You have clung to the graveclothes and winding sheet of self-pity, instead of turning wholeheartedly to your God. With the more complete self-surrender that followed this realization, healing came.
You, too, can have such a healing experience, whatever the problem may be that claims you as its owner. Remember, the graveclothes and the winding sheet cling to you only as long as you mentally cling to them.
In our work, as Christian Scientists, for the overcoming of sickness, sin, discord, even of death itself, do the hampering thoughts of the napkin and the graveclothes tinge our work with a suggestion of fear or doubt? Do we expect our patients to come forth healed in Christian Science, yet still fettered by materiality, still bound by mortal thinking, still in bondage to human doubts and fears? Let us bid the loved one "come forth," free and unfettered, leaving behind the graveclothes. Bid him lay them aside, and in the glorious light of the Christ see man freed of clinging fetters, reflecting the effulgence of divine perfection.
